Brewers reliever threatens quitting, changes mind after being cut

But despite posting a 2.03 earned run average and holding opponents to a .116 batting average in 11 exhibition games this spring, Cravy was one of the final two cuts — along with fellow reliever Rob Scahill — Saturday.

Cravy wasn't happy, threatening not to report to the team's Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he might even look for “a 9 to 5 job where I get treated like a human, at this point.”

The cuts left the Brewers with 24 players on their roster, but they reportedly filled the final spot Saturday by signing former Pirates reliever Jared Hughes, according to Fox Sports and MLB.com.

Cravy told the Journal Sentinel he'd been under the impression he was competing for a job in spring training, and thought his numbers had earned him a spot in the bullpen.

“It would just be nice to have the honesty straight up front instead of, ‘Hey, you’re competing for a job,’ then literally out-compete everyone and be told, ‘Sorry, we have other plans,'" Cravy said. “It says a lot about the integrity, or lack thereof, of the guys running the show, but what are you going to do? All you can do is put up numbers and sometimes that’s still not enough.

"I don’t think they would release me. I think it would just be me deciding to quit if I chose that route. I’m just not sure I want to play for guys who treat you like this.”

Cravy later walked back his comments in a lengthy post on Twitter.

"Did I say some things I shouldn't have? Probably," he said. "Did I say some things that offended people? Probably. … For that I apologize. Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not. I'm human, and I spoke up for myself when I felt I was being treated unfairly."

From an analytics perspective, the Brewers must have an extremely deep bullpen not to have a spot for Cravy. In 20 appearances last season, his second in MLB, he had a 2.86 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP, punching out 7 batters per nine innings. Those types of numbers, along with his spring stats, should earn him a ticket back to the majors soon.